March has arrived!

I sure hope spring is just around the corner, but you couldn't prove it by the weather today. It's in the 30s, and falling into the low 20s tonight. Yesterday was a gorgeous day: bright sunshine, light wind and 75 degrees.

I took the dogs to the wooded park, and we all enjoyed the nice, meandering walk. Saturday was nice too, a bit cooler, so I took Muffin on a short neighborhood walk. Unfortunately, my knees hurt later. I still can't walk comfortably on pavement -- even with new shoes and thick, padded inserts. The wooded park has a graveled path, and that's about the only option now for a bit of exercise.

I wish I could find an activity that I really liked. The orthopedic doctor suggested "chair yoga" just for the stretching and relief for my joints/muscles. I haven't googled it yet, but plan to soon.

Wednesday night I'm going to a new AA group meeting. It's held in a different location, and only once a week at night. I think I might fit in better with that group, and perhaps can find a sponsor at some point. So far, I don't have any urge to drink at all. It's like something that happened in another lifetime, but I recognize that it can always come roaring back if I let my guard down and don't attend AA meetings.

What else? Well, my novel Season of the Serpent, continues to sell several copies each day. Thanks to indieauthorland it still comes up on their site -- truly great free publicity for authors. Also, I noticed a reader posted it on Good Reads website, and that might account for sales too. Of course, it is only $1.00. I ordered name cards today - with my name, email and website to my e-books. I hope to distribute those to the library, the newspaper and any other venue I think might garner readers.

I have a lot of outside maintenance jobs that I'll have to hire done soon. I dread it, because finding reliable help is always a challenge. Next week I'm also going to run an ad in a small free paper that is distributed throughout the city/county for occasional housework & pet care. Come to think of it, I might also run an ad about my work, since the paper is also online too. Huh, this marketing thing is starting to stimulate my imagination!

My dogs are doing great, though Oscar is slowing down in his old age. He doesn't like to play at all; he barks if Rambo & Muffin rough-house too much. It's like he's saying, "Hey! Knock that off, it bothers me!" :-)

With that, I'm outta here for today.

Bi-polar winter weather

It seems here in the South we'll have a few glorious days of warm, sunny days and then literally overnight...not just cold but frigid temperatures. At least we haven't had snowfall or sleet/icing because the moisture shows up when we have warmer weather.

Last weekend was simply gorgeous -- I took the dogs to the lakeside park on Saturday & Sunday, then the wooded park on Monday. Wonderful. And mainly due to the fact the cortisone injection I got in my neck practically overnight got rid of most of my back pain. Nearly a miracle, except it was a modern marvel of health care. And fortunately for me, I had the procedure done without even a co-pay due to the good insurance policy I have now. Thanks Obama!

Otherwise, life goes on as usual here. I didn't make any New Year's resolutions, since I have realized in the past few years it just makes me feel guilty when I fail at those. I do hope I can get the remainder of my work at Amazon.com this year; I need to work on that as time permits. I'm not in a hurry though, because I want to have new material spaced out, not all at once.

My novels are doing well, considering I have done very little promotion. In fact, other than the interview with indieauthorland, I've not done much. I wish I could do more promotion, and maybe that is something I'll tackle this year. I could hire some PR, and may do that at some point.

I have lots of doctor/dentist appointments coming up, trying to get health care issues taken care of now that I have insurance. I'd put off a lot of problems because the bad insurance I had was a "junk policy." Sigh.

My pets are all healthy, and one of my cats is approaching 16 years old. As I type this, my smallest dog Muffin is asleep on my lap. It's quite a trick typing around a sleeping pet, but I mastered it years ago! (smile)

My blogging has become sparse, and I always hope I can write more. Alas, such is life. I've also been reading/researching a great deal in the dystopian fiction genre. I think my next novel will be in that category -- on the order of Revolution, Falling Skies, The Event, etc.

Tonight is in the single digits, and of course, I have a doctor's appointment in the morning. The radio is announcing possibility of power outages due to the demand; fortunately I have natural gas backup wall heaters.

Where oh where is spring? Can't wait!

Happy Holidays to my friends, readers & people near and far

First, may your holidays be bright and merry. Or if not that, at least tolerable and serene. Remember to smile a lot at family gatherings, even if you don't like some of your relatives. Just keep smiling, and they'll wonder what you have been up to!

I haven't even started my New Year's list of hopes for next year, and was thinking lately I'd not accomplished much this past year. But then, upon reflection, I realized I had done something that I was proud of, and that took a lot of my time. I edited, re-edited, and finally have 11 of my past novels online at Amazon.com. I had covers made for some, and others I created using Amazon's online tool. It was more than just editing past work too; I had to learn how to format the work for Kindle ebook reader. I could still improve on that, and may at some point re-work the formatting, but first I need to finish editing the remainder of my work. I have 3 more novels, as well as a book of short stories, and poetry. In the meantime, I've been halfway outlining another novella...

I can't say sales have been spectacular, but I am selling at least one or two novels a day. And that is mostly the ebook I have promoted a little. Once all the work is online, I'll look into promotion more since I'll have time for that effort.

So I am going to stop beating myself up for not getting anything accomplished this past year. Maybe I'll even think of something else positive I have done. Who knows?

And now, off to our family gathering where I will smile mysteriously...

A few poems

I've been reading through some of my past poetry -- and thought I'd share a few here today. I do plan to create an e-book of all my poems, which range widely over all sorts of topics.

These are a few poems about childhood abuse, addiction and survival...

Children of the Storm

You think we can be saved,
Moody, damaged and born
Of high wind in a raging storm,
Of lightning flashing in dark skies,
   Night terror and empty dreams;
   We refuse to be defined.

You say you want to understand
Who we are from moment to moment,
And you'd like to be the deep anchor
To hold swaying ships on turbulent seas.
  Others have tried, all have failed;
  We refuse to be rescued.

You want more than we can give,
More change, more growth, more of us
Than any of us have -- you ask
By the silent plea in your eyes, the kind voice
Talking about good intentions, noble causes
   To help save us
     From ourselves.

But we are all doomed children,
Born of the storm, already destroyed
  Long before you came along...
  Because we were never loved.

~~~~~~~

Under Cover
                         
They travel by night
Where no child should be alone,
And they steal souls, trap
Unsuspecting victims in their web,
Not dead, but not alive either;
They rob children of childhood.

They travel under cover of dark,
Thieves, robbers of small worlds,
These molesters of innocent children,
Disguised as parents, family, friends,
They rob children of their spirits.

They travel in deep of midnight,
Marauding and murdering silently
In the deadly quiet of kept-secrets,
These double-dealers and deceivers,
They rob children of life.

They travel by night
And their evil, sinful vices
Turn children's faces into stone masks;
Yet many citizens who learn this truth
Turn away from the brutal
Ugliness
Done under cover of midnight.

~~~~~~~~

Deception

You come to those in need

Like a sweet dream,

Escape is your promise;

Ignorant, they are mesmerized. 

You say you know how to prove

Your love for them,

How to create a deep, dark mystery. 

They fall deeper and deeper

Into your black wizardry,

Enchanted by wicked sorcery. 

By the time they understand you,

By the time they know your real name,

And recognize your hypnotic spell

As the destructive vice of evil...

Their alcoholic stupor

Has turned to worship of liquor...

And they have been deceived.

~~~~~~~~

Once Upon A Time

Once upon a time,

There was a time, I know,

When you, father, walked in sunshine.

But those days are as gone

As wine through your mind.

Once upon a time,

There was a time, I know,

When you dreamed dreams

Of being a successful guitarist.

But those days are as lost

As whiskey down your throat.

Once upon a time,

There was a time, I know,

When you were kind,

And loved your children,

Before drink spoiled your affections.

But those days are as past

As your liquor-induced madness.

Once upon a time,

There was a time, I know,

But those times died with you

Souring those golden days

When you once loved us...

Leaving us poisoned

By your violent outbursts,

And your anger-glazed eyes

That left us wondering why?

~~~~~~~~

Addicts

Life beyond the open door,

They bow before your design;

But the waltz slows,

And slowly, slowly it stops.

They can't see the horizon

Because their vision dims,

And their eyes go blind. 

They reach for a slim hope to cope

But time stands silently still,

In the bleak pall of nothingness

Where their fragile hold on reality

Slips farther and farther away...

Where only that one narcotic rush,

That dangerous jolt of a needle prick

Brings the hit of speed they need

So they can revive, live and breathe. 

You see, straight friend,

Time only moves, only flies...

When they are speeding on deadly wheels,

Riding high a rushing cycle of crack...

That spins out of control into the graveyard. 

~~~~~~~~

And one last poem that seems to echo my recent fiction reading about post-apocalyptic earth...

Ashes

There will be ashes over us all

In time's burnt-out sun

When all we humans have done

Becomes meaningless, useless.

There will be no shadows

Of our human loss,

An earth barren as dust,

And none of us will matter

For time will be done, gone,

The trivial quest of humanity

A joke, a jest, an eccentricity

And our ignorant arrogance

That life was somehow important

Will have ended in nothingness.

~~~~~~~~

Rainy, dreary day today. The usual here -- reading, writing, and house-cleaning while herding my cats & dogs!